Judge: Second Mile insurance company has no duty to defend former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky

Insurer for The Second Mile, his former charity, doesn't need to pay his legal bills.

The insurance company for The Second Mile, Jerry Sandusky’s charity… (PAT LITTLE, Reuters Photo )

March 01, 2013|By Peter Hall, Of The Morning Call

The insurance company for Jerry Sandusky's charity for at-risk kids has no obligation to pay the former Penn State assistant football coach's legal bills, a federal judge ruled Friday.

Sandusky, 69, who was convicted in June of molesting 10 young boys between 1994 and 2009, asked Federal Insurance Co. to pay to defend him in his criminal trial and in civil lawsuits filed on behalf of his victims.

The insurance company argued that because Sandusky committed the crimes outside of his employment and not in his capacity as an executive or employee of The Second Mile, it has no obligation to defend him. U.S. District Judge Yvette Kane agreed in an 18-page decision posted Friday morning.

"The fact that Sandusky met his victims through The Second Mile — or even sexually abused victims 'during the course of activities of Second Mile' — does not change the fact that his sexual abuse of children was personal in nature, and performed in his individual capacity," Kane wrote.

Sandusky founded The Second Mile in 1977 to provide foster homes for troubled children in the State College area. It grew into an organization providing outreach and confidence-building athletic programs for at-risk youth across Pennsylvania.

Many of Sandusky's victims testified during his trial they first met him during events held by The Second Mile, and that Sandusky reached out to the boys through parents in search of closer individual relationships.

After gaining the trust of the boys and their parents, Sandusky engaged in sexual misconduct that ranged from unwanted touching and showering together to forced oral and anal sex, the victims testified.

Prosecutors also displayed to jurors lists of the names of boys enrolled in Second Mile programs, with Sandusky's handwritten notes on their shoe sizes and interests.

Lawyers for Sandusky and the insurance company did not immediately return calls seeking comment on the decision.

Sandusky had also called upon State Farm Fire and Casualty Co., which issued his homeowner's insurance policy, to cover the cost of defending him against criminal charges and civil lawsuits by men he allegedly molested as boys.

State Farm sued Sandusky in July, asking a judge to rule that its policy does not require it to provide coverage for intentional acts including sexual molestation.

In a court filing Tuesday, Sandusky and State Farm asked a judge to dismiss the lawsuit, saying they agree the company has no duty to defend him from charges or claims stemming from allegations of sexual conduct, inappropriate contact or mental coercion.

Sandusky was sentenced in October to serve 30 to 60 years behind bars. He is serving the sentence at a maximum security state prison in Greene County.